In 1894, E. W. Scripps and his half-brother, George H. Scripps, organized their various papers into the first modern newspaper chain. In July 1895, it was named the Scripps-McRae League with the addition of Cincinnati Post general manager Milton A. McRae as a partner.[4] On November 29, 1921, it was renamed Scripps-Howard Newspapers, to recognize Roy W. Howard.[5]

On November 23, 1922, the company was placed in trust for E. W. Scripps' children and grandchildren.[5] The company's shares were divided into two types: Class A Common Shares, which were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and common voting shares, which were not publicly traded and elected a majority of the company's directors. A number of media companies, including the New York Times Company and the Washington Post Company, are governed by this system so that the descendants of the company's founders can keep control of the company.[6]

The E. W. Scripps Company is headquartered in the Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati.

In 1990, the company completed a new downtown Cincinnati headquarters, the Scripps Center.[7]

On October 3, 2011 The E. W. Scripps Company announced it was purchasing the television arm of McGraw-Hill for $212 million.[8] This purchase nearly doubles the number of Scripps stations to 19 with a combined reach of 13% of U.S. households. Upon the 2012 death of E. W. Scripps' grandson, Robert Scripps, the Edward W. Scripps Trust was dissolved and its stock divided among the surviving trustees.[6]

The E. W. Scripps Company and Journal Communications announced on July 30, 2014, that the two companies would merge and spin-off their newspaper assets.[9] The deal will create a broadcast group under the E.W. Scripps Company name and retaining the Cincinnati headquarters, as well as a newspaper company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin under the Journal Media Group name. The transaction is slated to be completed in 2015, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.[10] The FCC approved the deal on December 12.[11]

The company's first newspaper and original flagship. Merged with the Cleveland News in 1960. Sold to entrepreneur Joseph E. Cole in 1980 after the Cleveland Plain Dealer surpassed it in both circulation and revenue throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Subsequently closed on June 17, 1982.

Afternoon-only daily paper. The paper's roots trace back to 1880; it was acquired by Scripps' antecedent, the Scripps-McRae League, in 1906. Scripps also purchased the city's morning paper, The Commercial Appeal (which it still owns) in 1936.

Founded in 1899. Also had its roots in what was one of the first newspapers in Ohio, The Ohio State Journal, which was founded in 1814. Operated as part of a joint operating agreement with The Columbus Dispatch for several decades; Scripps folded the paper after the Dispatch terminated the JOA, and a sale of the paper to Akron-area businessman Nyles V. Reinfeld collapsed.

The paper's roots trace back to the Elyton Herald, founded 21 years before Birmingham's incorporation as a city. Merged with the Scripps-owned Birmingham Post in 1950. Long a morning newspaper, it switched to an afternoon-only publication by request of joint operating agreement partner The Birmingham News (which itself became a tri-weekly in 2012).

Founding owner Carl Magee's slogan for the paper, "Give light and the people will find their own way," and accompanying lighthouse logo, would both be adopted by Scripps after their 1923 acquisition of the paper.

Scripps owns the Scripps Howard News Service and, until 2011, operated United Media (composed of the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association). United Feature Syndicate syndicated many notable comic strips including Peanuts, Garfield, Li'l Abner, Dilbert, Nancy and Marmaduke. NEA, originally established as a secondary news service to the Scripps Howard News Service, later evolved into a general syndicate, and were best known for syndicating Alley Oop, Freckles and His Friends, The Born Loser and Frank and Ernest, in addition to an annual Christmas comic strip.[14] The distribution rights to properties syndicated by United Media was outsourced to Universal Uclick in February 2011. While United Media effectively ceased to exist, Scripps still maintains copyrights and intellectual property rights.[15][16]

E. W. Scripps' television division currently owns twenty-one television stations in sixteen markets; eleven ABC affiliates, three NBC affiliates, five Azteca América affiliates, one My Network TV affiliate and one independent affiliate. As a result of its merger with Journal, E.W Scripps will acquire three more ABC affiliates, two more NBC affiliates, one more My Network TV affiliate, as well as two Fox affiliates, two CBS affiliates, and one CW; these are expected to close in 2015; the new total will be 32 stations. The company will also retain Journal's radio stations group for the time being, along with maintaining the sports play-by-play radio networks for Journal's major broadcasting rights in Wisconsin; the Green Bay PackersRadio Network, and the Milwaukee Brewers Radio Network.

Scripps also previously owned the Shop at Home home-shopping television network, which in turn owned five television stations.[citation needed]

In October 1995, Comcast announced the purchase of E. W. Scripps' cable television operation.[17]

On May 22, 2006, Scripps announced that it was to cease operations of the network and intended to sell each of Shop at Home's five owned and operated television stations.[18]Jewelry Television eventually acquired Shop at Home, but Scripps still intended to sell its affiliated stations. On September 26, 2006, Scripps announced that it was selling its Shop at Home TV stations to New York City-based Multicultural Television for $170 million.[19]

On October 3, 2011, Scripps announced it was purchasing all seven television stations owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies for $212 million; the sale is a result of McGraw-Hill's decision to exit the broadcasting industry to focus on its other core properties, including its publishing unit.[20] This deal was approved by the FTC on October 31[21] and the FCC on November 29.[22] The deal was completed on December 30, 2011.[23]

On February 10, 2014, Scripps announced it has reached a deal to acquire Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW-TV and Detroit MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD for $110 million.[24] The sale was approved by the FCC on May 2, 2014 and was completed on June 16, 2014. This deal has created a duopoly between WMYD and ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV.

Notes:** indicates a station that was built and signed-on by E.W. Scripps++ indicates a station that was owned by Scripps but operated by Belo Corporation (via a time brokerage agreement) during Scripps' ownership

Scripps also operates the national (US) spelling bee. The final competition is in Washington, DC and it is broadcast on ESPN and ABC. Lower levels are organized by the school, then county and eventually to the final competition.[citation needed]

Scripps owns and operates The Commercial Appeal, which posted a controversial database listing Tennessee residents with permits to carry handguns.[26] The database is a public record in Tennessee, but had not previously been posted online.

Scripps owns and operates the Ventura County Star, which has faced many complaints involving its circulation practices rather than its editorial content. As of April 2, 2011, the Better Business Bureau listed ten (10) separate "significant" complaints from the previous three years, of which two alleged the company made unauthorized debits from customers' checking accounts, four alleged problems obtaining refunds, two alleged the company harassed a customer or former customer, two alleged improper billing, and two alleged delivery continuing after customers tried to cancel.[27] (The total number of allegations does not add to the total number of complaints because two complaints made multiple allegations.)

In May 2013, Scripps News Service discovered and published a security breach on the websites of Oklahoma-based TerraCom Inc. and an affiliate, YourTel America Inc. in which the personal information of tens of thousands of low-income Americans was publicly exposed. In response, the two companies accused Scripps of "hacking" and of violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.[28][29] The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan subsequently announced an investigation into the two companies.[30]

1Scripps and Journal Communications will spin-off their respective newspaper divisions and merge them into a new company, Journal Media Group.

2Scripps will acquire the entire broadcast television division as well as most of the radio division of Journal Communications. The acquisition will not be complete until sometime in 2015.

3KSAW is a semi-satellite of ABC station KIVI-TV in Boise. However, KIVI and Fox station KNIN-TV are not included in the sale to Scripps. Instead, those stations are being sold to a divestiture trust between Scripps and Journal Communications, to be controlled by Kiel Media Group.